6 discoveries of Russian scientists who were ahead of their time
Miscellaneous / / April 04, 2023
1. vision correction
In the 1970s, scientists from different countries were engaged in the issue of using surgery to treat eye diseases and correct corneal curvature. One of the first successfully apply The theory was put into practice by the Soviet ophthalmologist Svyatoslav Fedorov.
His experiments began in the late 1950s. Then Fedorov created his own version of an artificial lens: first he tested it on rabbits, and in 1960 transplanted and man. The implant helped a 12-year-old girl get rid of a congenital cataract. But a successful operation almost cost the physician a career: the director of the branch of the Research Institute of Eye Diseases. Helmholtz, in which Fedorov worked as head of the clinical department, asked him to leave his post, calling the experiment unscientific. Fedorov did not find support from either his colleagues or the scientific community. And to rehabilitate him helped Izvestia correspondent Anatoly Agranovsky. He, having learned about this situation, decided to seek justice and turned to the Ministry of Health. As a result, the physician was reinstated. 15 years later, in 1975, the method became widespread in the USSR.
The second experiment is an operation on the cornea. Fedorov not only figured out how to fix its curvature, but was also the first to detail described a method that includes heating and notching with a scalpel: their number, depth of incisions and other important details. The scientist called his technique radial keratotomy: for more than 10 years, before the advent of less invasive techniques, specialists in the USSR, the USA and Latin America used it.
2. Space flights
Flying beyond Earth has long been a fantasy. Jules Verne, Edgar Allan Poe, HG Wells and many other writers wrote about them. The theories of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky helped turn them from science fiction into reality.
To study aircraft and make small models of them began as a child: at the age of 11, he fell ill with scarlet fever, became almost deaf, and because of this he spent a lot of time at home alone with himself and his ideas. The disease also became the reason for his expulsion from school: as a result, Tsiolkovsky received education independently, reading scientific works on physics, astronomy, higher mathematics and other disciplines in library.
Tsiolkovsky became interested in space flights at the end of the 19th century. In 1887, he wrote the story "On the Moon", in which he talked about how a person who suddenly finds himself on the Earth's satellite will feel, what he will see and how his abilities will change. In particular, he writes about the force of gravity, which affects the nature of human movements.
Already at the beginning of the 20th century, Tsiolkovsky created many works devoted to space exploration, which later contributed to the development of science. For example, calculations of the speed required to enter space, the concept of a liquid rocket engine and the model of a multi-stage rocket, a “rocket train”. Tsiolkovsky's theory assumed that it was possible to overcome the earth's atmosphere only on a ship, from which blocks would gradually separate, which, in turn, would increase its speed. Tsiolkovsky's dreams of flying into space became a reality after his death. But without the calculations of a self-taught scientist, the development of astronautics would probably have gone much more slowly.
Today, aerospace technology no longer seems like science fiction. They are studied and developed in many universities and specialized organizations, including scientific and educational (REC) and world-class research centers (NCMU). These are opened thanks to the national project “Science and universities». In total, there are now 15 world-class RECs and 17 NCMUs in Russia. Not all of them work with aerospace technologies: there are centers that study genetics, ecology, subsoil use and many other areas important for the future of mankind. All of them are located in leading scientific organizations and have a modern instrumentation base.
Also under the national project "Science and universities» Competence centers of the National Technology Initiative are being created and youth laboratories. There, students and young professionals have a chance to work on research in a team using modern instrumentation and contribute to the creation of a scientific discovery.
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3. Heart transplant
History of transplantation started back in the 16th century: then the Italian Gaspare Tagliacozzi transplanted people with their own skin for nose reconstruction. Scientists switched to more radical experiments in the 19th century: then they tried to transplant ovaries to a woman, kidneys, and even a second head to a dog.
Not all experiments ended successfully, but they inspired the creative search of the young Soviet biologist Vladimir Demikhov. As soon as he entered the Biological Faculty of Moscow State University, he began to look for ways to replace the heart of a living being with another and make it work like a native. All experiments were carried out on dogs. And there were many:
- In 1937, Demikhov created his own model of an artificial heart and transplanted it into an animal. The dog did not live long, only two hours, but for the middle of the 20th century this result was an incredible success.
- In 1946, he transplanted a second, additional, heart into a dog. In the same year, he replaced the heart-lung complex.
- In 1951, he transplanted a donor heart and lungs.
- In 1952, he first used mammary coronary artery bypass grafting: he replaced the damaged vessel with another, healthy one. And to connect it to the aorta, I used plastic cannulas and tantalum clips.
In total, during his practice, Demikhov performed hundreds of operations of varying degrees of success. Some dogs died during the experiments, others lived for several hours, and still others for several days or weeks. But there was also a case when the dog, after experiments on the heart, lived for seven whole years. In addition, scientist put forward the assumption that organs can be preserved - to create a bank from which they can be taken for urgent transplants. The main thing is that all the successful results and achievements of Demikhov proved the possibility of carrying out such operations on humans - for the first time to repeat this on a human. tried in 1964, and allowed the development of vital organ transplantation, which saves people today.
4. Laser (maser)
The possibility of creating a laser at the beginning of the 20th century suggested Albert Einstein. In his 1917 paper "On a Quantum Theory of Radiation", he wrote that radiation could be stimulated, and to stimulate it, an electromagnetic emitter would be needed. It was possible to apply the theory in practice after almost 40 years. And twice and on different continents.
In the USSR, work on the creation of such a device were engaged physicists Alexander Prokhorov and Nikolai Basov. In 1952, they described the principles of operation of a device that creates stimulated emission, and in 1954 created quantum generator based on ammonia. But it was not a laser, but a maser - a device that amplifies microwaves using stimulated emission (Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation).
Directly the laser, that is, the light amplifier (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation), for the first time created Theodor Maiman in 1960. To do this, he replaced the ammonia with a ruby crystal.
In parallel with Prokhorov and Basov, the same apparatus was developed by the American physicist Charles Townes. He showed his ammonia maser a year earlier, in 1953. Both works became an important point in the development of quantum electronics: in 1964, scientists from the USSR and the USA divided Nobel Prize in Physics.
5. Exploration of Venus
The space race between the US and the USSR led to numerous discoveries. One of them, the study of the surface of Venus, is the achievement of Soviet cosmonauts.
On the flight to a neighboring planet, scientists thought for good reason. Venus is close to Earth in many ways, from diameter to density. In addition, its surface resembles the bottom of the world's oceans, which may indicate a similar geological history. Studying the landscape of Venus would help to learn more about what life was like on Earth billions of years ago.
To conduct research, Soviet scientists created several spacecraft. The first of these, Venera-1, took off on February 12, 1961. His task was to reconnoiter the situation: he recorded and transmitted measurements of the intensity of cosmic radiation, the strength of interplanetary magnetic fields and other indicators.
In 1965, two more ships, Venera 2 and Venera 3, flew in the same direction: they were heavier, collected more data, and the latter even broke through the planet's atmosphere. The next version of the ship, Venera-4, not only passed through the atmosphere, but also made a parachute descent. However, she failed to reach the surface.
A successful landing took place in 1975. Venera-9 and Venera-10 not only landed on Venus, but also took the first pictures of the planet. In 1982, Venera 13 and Venera 14 repeated their success, sending better and more detailed footage and taking soil samples. In the 1980s, two more Soviet vehicles flew to Venus - Vega-1 and Vega-2. At the moment, these are the last vehicles that have visited the neighboring planet.
It is now possible to study celestial bodies and regularities in the Universe while being on Earth. All thanks to modern high-precision optics. Updating the instrumentation base of scientific and educational organizations is one of the tasks of the national project "Science and universities». In 2022, thanks to him, more than 200 organizations will be able to improve it. In total, more than 25 billion rubles have been allocated for these purposes since 2019: the updated equipment has already appeared in 268 universities and research institutes, including the special astrophysical observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
In addition, thanks to the national project "Science and Universities", installations of the class "megascience” are super-powerful scientific complexes. A network of such will contribute to the invention of the latest technologies based on synchrotron and neutron research.
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6. backpack parachute
Variants of devices that would allow people to float in the air, at different times came up with many inventors. The first parachutes looked like large umbrellas with strong frames. They were bulky and uncomfortable. A small backpack parachute that is powered by a person created Russian theater actor Gleb Kotelnikov in 1911. A year before, he and his wife attended the All-Russian Aeronautics Festival. There he saw how, after the destruction of the aircraft in the air, the pilot died. Then Kotelnikov decided to develop a device that could save people in such situations.
It took Kotelnikov only 10 months to create a parachute. The design looked like a knapsack with a mechanism of springs and a ring: it was necessary to pull the ring, after which the springs were activated and the parachute “jumped” out of the knapsack. Already in December 1911, Kotelnikov tried to obtain a patent for his invention - the RK-1 parachute. But in Russia he was refused. He did not despair and in 1912 he tried again in France - there he was already lucky.